I’m beginning to believe I have a distorted vision of friendship and that the “perfect picture of female friendship” is a just a fantasy. The BFF from childhood or high-school, who remains your BFF through it all – just getting older and grayer now. The tight knit group of besties who do things together all … Continue reading Let Go of the Fantasy
It’s been a tough couple of weeks emotionally. Nothing major, just my negative thoughts spiraling me down. I try and work on positivity with daily gratitude, journaling, getting outside in my garden, doing things I love to do. But there are times when my critical inner voice and my natural pessimism seem to overpower the … Continue reading Permission for the Negative Emotions
One of the fun tools I played with early in my retirement transition was writing 5 vignettes (short scenarios) based on 5 years in the future. I was learning about my love of writing and this sounded like a fun way to write creatively and also push my thinking on where I wanted to be … Continue reading Writing Future Scenarios
It’s been said that for many, a blog is an on-line diary. Although I try and keep my blog on topic of its name (retirement transition), it does reflect the state of my life. So here is a look back at my 2023 life, through my blogging lens. I did have a number of posts … Continue reading A Year in Review – Through a Blogging Lens
When I first retired, I had no idea “what I was retiring to”. The experts all said that was very important to know before you retired. But 55-60 hour work weeks with even my non-working hour’s mind-space occupied with work thinking didn't leave me very much time to figure out what that was. When I retired, … Continue reading What tools and techniques am I still using?
July 15 was the anniversary of my first day of retirement - it has been 9 years! Then, July 27th will be the anniversary of my blog (8 years!). In some ways it feels like no time at all, and in other ways, working at a full-time career feels like ancient history and my blog … Continue reading Happy Anniversary to Me
Although I recognize retirement, like life, is a series of transitions, it still surprises me how things change. Over my years in retirement, I’ve gone from doing consulting projects that kept me “being productive” to not doing any paid work at all. I’ve added different types of exercise into my life; some stayed and some didn't. … Continue reading Whimsey
It’s been a rocky start to the year. I’ve tried to keep my blog “real” and talk the good, the bad, and the ugly about Retirement Transitions. I wrote (blog link here) about some of the challenges I’m facing in my mom’s 500-mile move to an Assisted Living facility near me. This blog talks about … Continue reading Rocky Start to 2023
And retirement life is no different in having major life transitions. Some transitions are planned, some are unexpected, and some planned but have a lot of uncertainty still involved. Beyond the transition of leaving a full-time career, other life transitions in my own retirement years included starting and ending a consulting “second career”, dealing with … Continue reading Life is Full of Transitions
In 2022, my focus was all about learning to live in Florida full-time. I called my blog Retirement Transitions, and this was a really big transition for our retirement. We have been living in Florida full-time for 19 months and I do feel like we have settled in well. I am coming to terms with … Continue reading 2022 Year in Review
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